Growing up, I was always fascinated with color and the many ways I could play with it. Simply gazing at all the crayons in a box of Crayolas gave me pleasure; however, it was using those colors to create images that came out of both the physical surroundings and the vivid childhood imagination that really engaged me. The one subject that inhabited both worlds was that other passion - cats. All my life, I have shared my home with cats, and feel a kinship with them. Oftentimes, I understand them more than people.
Ever since I was first introduced to Picasso, I discovered that art could go further than mere representation. It could convey an emotional layer and a perspective well beyond what our eyes can see. Using the wide array of color that I still adore to this day, I approach the feline from the inside out, capturing the emotion of cats and what I imagine is their own self-image. I have discovered, though, that these could just as easily be self-portraits. They seem to tell a story of my own emotional history - you could say they have become art therapy.
People who have viewed these paintings have remarked about the motion and the color. They are as drawn in by these aspects as much as I enjoy playing with them; however, my hope is that viewers are pulled deeper into the painting and allow the colorful movement to inspire their own emotions. Perhaps they will come away with a better understanding of my connection to felines as well as a greater appreciation of where I stood at the time of the work. Mostly, I do not want viewers to feel that they are confined to one set of interpretations. It does not worry me if people are merely attracted to the visual elements; but, I have always believed it was impossible to separate emotional feeling from the other senses. If I can get people to explore that further, then the painting has communicated.
Lara Michele Bunn was born in Ft. Riley, Kansas in 1970, but has spent most of her life in Muscatine, Iowa. Growing up, Lara was always fascinated with color and could be found whiling away hours drawing her outer surroundings and inner musings. Cats seemed to occupy both those worlds, and continue to this day to inspire her artwork.
When Lara graduated from high school in 1988, she entered the University of Iowa. For a time Lara double-majored in engineering and art, but decided that painting was where her heart truly belonged and from then on concentrated her studies exclusively on art. As her interest in the subconscious grew, the startling images in her work increasingly combined her dreams with her reality. Cats played a large part in those dreamscapes, and soon became the centerpiece of her work. Lara has been cultivating the cat series drawings that evolved since that period, unifying a varied and vibrant palette with dramatic distortions of cat imagery.
Apart from drawing and painting, she has learned valuable framing techniques through her work at various framing galleries. In her spare time, she experiments with computer graphics, often designing her own promotional materials as well as those of friends and family. Mostly, she gets endless inspiration from her live subjects: her cats. As a way of connecting with fellow cat lovers, Lara participates in an internet community of fellow Siamese cat admirers, often sharing her artwork there.
